


Hiding in Plain Sight

by flurry_of_beaus



Series: Dragons of Remmant [3]
Category: How to Train Your Dragon (Movies), RWBY
Genre: AU, And not on screen, Crossover, I Had To, Other, and I love it, but still, its fun, makes me happy, minor characters - Freeform, there's a self indulgent bit at the end, theres some death, white fang era
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-26
Updated: 2019-05-26
Packaged: 2020-03-17 14:43:40
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,500
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18967345
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/flurry_of_beaus/pseuds/flurry_of_beaus
Summary: Part of Dragons of RemmantHow Ilia meet her dragon





	Hiding in Plain Sight

**Author's Note:**

> Two fics in one day? Don't get used to it. I was oddly productive today, and finally figured out how to right this one. Took me a while, but it's good. Plus beta read for once.  
> (actually this whole AU is self indulgent for me, tbh)  
> Enjoy the read ~

The White Fang had been traveling for a few weeks since their last liberation, and Ilia had gotten used to the new dragon traveling with them. For one thing, Blake didn’t seem as stressed, Swift Shadow having refused to leave her side at all. The night fury didn’t like Adam in the slightest, meaning the bull faunus didn’t spend quite as much time near the younger girl.  
He had sent the three out to scout, and both girls were enjoying the dim light and quiet. Reilly, one of the new faunus to join the group, had offered to join, but one of the other new members, Russel had agreed that the three was enough. The raccoon tailed girl sighed, but didn’t argue with the panther.  
Swift Shadow was walking in between them, looking out for both faunus. Ilia was glad that Swift Shadow had approved of her, liking her almost as much as Blake. His ears kept flicking around, listening around. He also kept sniffing around, taking in the scents.  
Shortly after his ears perked up towards a large tree, Blake’s feline ears did the same, proving that Swift Shadow’s hearing was barely better, Ilia looked around, mildly jealous of the sharper hearing. The black dragon fired a blast into the tree, and a changewing flashed briefly, jumping out of the tree with wide eyes. The dragon looked younger, big enough to fly but not fully grown yet.  
Blake reached for Gambol Shroud, and Ilia focused on blending into the background, hoping to get a sneak attack in. The dragon mimicked her, intrigued. Ilia glanced over to share a confused look with Blake, who had put her free hand on Swift Shadow’s neck once the wild dragon stopped running at them. Swift Shadow let out a dangerous low growl all the same.  
“Maybe try to keep her attention with that. Could calm her down.” Blake whispered, golden eyes confused.  
“Worth a shot.” Ilia muttered, grinning a little. She focused on turning her freckles to a shade of purple, and the changewing copied her, looking happy for a second. “Like that?” Ilia asked, voice light with amusement. The changewing definitely understood her, the aggressive look dying down slowly, getting replaced permanently by a happy and playful.  
She then let her skin return to its normal shade, and the dragon did the same, scale red again. The changewing then put her scales at a shade of yellow, and after a second Ilia copied the shade. The changewing looked pleased, tail shaking happily. Swift Shadow’s confused sound caused the changewing to tense again.  
Ilia quickly glared at the night fury, her skin red. He shrunk down, and the changewing focused back on Ilia. As she matched colors, and had the changewing match her colors, Ilia moved slowly towards her, until she was nearly able to touch the dragon’s scales. The chameleon like dragon looked at her, eyes taking in the faunus with a cautious breath.  
Time froze for her, barely aware of Blake and Swift Shadow. Slowly the dragon’s nose brushed up against her hand as both returning to their original colors, the changewing breath warming Ilia’s outstretched hand, cooing softly. “There you go, Iris.” Ilia smiled, marveling at the soft scales under her hand. Iris blinked at the name, taking in the moment. Up close, Ilia could see that the dragon wasn’t scarred.  
Iris looked over at the other two, looking curious about them. “That’s Blake, and her dragon, Swift Shadow. He’s just protective of her.” The night fury looked over at the two, relaxed once more. Blake gave Ilia two thumbs up, making her have to hid her blush.  
Swift Shadow walked over to the two, and Iris gave him a cautious sniff, the two dragons investigating each other. They apparently came to some peace, and Iris looked happily at Blake. The other girl let Iris sniff her hand, and the changewing darted off before pausing.  
“I think we should follow her.” Ilia shrugged, and Blake nodded. “Wonder what she’s doing alone.”  
Blake’s ears twitched thoughtfully. “We’ll probably find out anyway. She’s in this area, and that’s a bit close to the camp.” she sighed, looking around with worry in her eyes.  
They followed her, and they caught the sounds of heavy footsteps, and loud voices. Iris darted back to them, going invisible against Ilia.  
“Think that’s all the beasts.” a rough voice practically shouted, “let's skin ‘um and move out. Boss will be proud of this haul.”  
“Poachers…” Ilia growled, voice low. “That’s what happened to the rest. Let’s get rid of them now.” She forced her skin not to show the anger she was feeling, and noted that Blake’s ears were pinning, Ilia assuming anger or disgust.  
Despite the flat ears, a confident smirk appeared on Blake’s face, and she nodded. “You and Iris can sneak around in front of them, Swift Shadow and I can handle this side.”  
Ilia nodded, and blended in before darting off, feeling Iris behind her. They got to the opposite end of the clearing, and waited until Swift Shadow attacked. He sent a plasma blast at the closest hunter, and Iris sent a blast of acid on one of the poachers. The changewing had moved into a tree while she was invisible. Ilia and Blake charge as well, Ilia’s whip cut through air, cracking against the targets. At the same time, Blake used her weapon’s cleave-like state to leave bruises, darting out of range of their blows at the same time. The dragons continued to move around, blasting anyone that got too close to either faunus, or each other.  
It didn’t take long for the poachers to run away, clearly not prepared for fighting. Both dragons reapproached their companions, winded but not injured, much like the faunus.  
“We’re… too late.” Blake sighed, ears flattening as she looked around the area. “Even the eggs were smashed.” Her voice could only be described as pissed off at the end, pissed off with a mournful touch.  
“Least we can do is bury them, I guess.” Ilia agreed, giving Irish a hug. The changewing didn’t have any objections to the hug.  
Swift Shadow started tearing into the ground, making a deep and wide hole in the ground. Everyone moved the changewings into it as carefully as possible, adding the dragon eggs. Iris didn’t watch as the dirt covered the remains, her face against Ilia’s back.  
“I’m sorry girl.” she muttered, looking at the dragon. “It’s too dangerous for you to be alone now as well.”  
“She likes you, and we could convince…” Blake muttered, looking down. “We could convince Adam that she could be useful.” A tinge of a darker emotion was in her voice when she said that, and Swift Shadow nudged her leg gently.  
It had been noticeable the difference now, Blake at first was confused by why Adam hadn’t spend the same time with her as before, and now starting to be guarded around him, Swift Shadow’s behavior raising signs. There was no doubt that night fury was mistreated, and he saw what most of the White Fang had ignored, or even hadn’t noticed.  
Iris didn’t hold any objections to joining them, and the four continued scouting a large enough area to go back, mainly waiting until Iris had perked up a little. They walked slower than they had before, enjoying the views and sounds of the forest. Iris was darting around with Swift Shadow, the two starting to play as they moved. All while keeping up with the people of course.  
Iris decided not to be visible as they arrived at the camp, looking nervous at all the people. Swift Shadow drew closer to Blake, practically rubbing into her as she approached Adam, Ilia next to her. The lighter atmosphere shifted instantly, and everything halted around them.  
“Well?” the bull faunus asked, looking serious. “What’s the report?” His tone didn’t suggest that he had any patience for them. “What took so long?” He turned slowly, walking towards them with crossed arms. Ilia could feel a tail flick against her back, figuring it was Iris.  
“We were being thorough, that’s all.” Blake started, looking vaguely nervous. “No one anywhere nearby, very little dragons, and nothing that is territorial.”  
Ilia had to confirm that, irritated that the man didn’t trust Blake’s report. But with the confirmation, he nodded, seeming pleased. Both girls sighed deeply, backing off. Blake went to give Swift Shadow some food, the black dragon relaxing a little.  
The unnamed deathgripper started sniffing intensely, walking over towards Ilia. She had a feeling that Iris was near her, and she tensed up as Adam noticed “his” dragons behavior. The bull gave her a withering look, pushing her aside when she didn’t move. Blake’s ears fell at the sound of Ilia crashing, and Iris’ scales shifted to a violent red, glaring.  
There was no doubt that the deathgripper wasn’t tamed, Ilia had overheard the man struggle to redrug him when he hadn't done it in time. That was a wild animal, controlled by venom with no loyalty. And he claimed Swift Shadow was wild.  
“What is it with random dragons coming home with you two?” he asked with a snarl, blocking the changewing from reaching Ilia. “And this is a dragon I’d call territorial as well!” Adam’s last comment was almost a shout, and Swift Shadow growled at him.  
“She’s not a threat!” Ilia snapped as she stood up, skin going red. “We ran into her, alone, and when I blended in, she got fascinated and mimicked me. After a bit, she decided to trust me, and followed us back.”  
Adam glared at Ilia, earning two loud growls. Glancing back, Ilia noted that Swift Shadow was standing in front of Blake, chest heaving with anger. The cat faunus looked tense. Ilia tried to hide her own fears at the moment.  
“So, you just decided this on your own? Never should have let that damn night fury stick around.” Adam muttered, snapping his finger for “his” dragon to approach him. “If she’s going to stay, she will be drugged. Unless you have a good reason to not use the venom as well?” the question was baited, and Ilia took the bait, well aware of what she was doing.  
“Look, Swift Shadow has immediately jumped to Blake’s defense, even when your deathgripper didn’t to yours. Remember those humans a few days after he had joined us? You’ve had the deathgripper for months, he’s never done that for you. They clearly have a bond, and forgive me for wanting the same thing.” Ilia said in a huff, moving past him and the deathgripper. She stood by Iris, the dragon quickly showing her relief with a light color. “Iris isn’t going to be a liability to us, and if we did use the venom, she wouldn’t be able to go invisible whenever she felt it is the best time to. A command isn’t practical for that.”  
Adam looked shocked, and backed up a bit. Blake stepped in, voice surprisingly sharp. “If no one else noticed her until the dragon did, what makes you think any human will? Other than hunters and huntresses and the military, they don’t have dragons. Besides, she’s by herself, changewings need a pack. Iris won’t attack someone she trusts, Ilia’s her pack now.”  
With a heavy sigh, the horned faunus turned away. “Fine, fine! If it makes you happy, Ilia can keep that dragon.” he forced the words out, before facing Ilia. “You will carry some of this venom on you as well, in case it becomes needed.”  
A long pause came before Adam spoke again. “If anything goes bad with either of them, both of them are going to have venom used on them however.” he warned before going to his tent, deathgripper standing in front of the door and not moving.  
The air was tense for a few more moments, but Iris decided to collapse against Ilia with relief. Blake and Swift Shadow rushed over, Ilia giving them a shaky thumbs up. The changewing chuckled a little, green flashing across her scales with amusement. Swift Shadow gently nudged her off the faunus, who stood up with help from Blake. The cat faunus couldn’t help a light chuckle as well, ears moving back to a relaxed position.  
Iris tackled into Swift Shadow as pay back, the two tumbling down to the ground as their riders laughed a bit. “Soon as we can, I’ll teach you to fly.” Blake promised, a light, but true, smile graced her lips, and Ilia struggled to hid another blush.  
“Good, that sounds like fun, and Swift Shadow won’t trust me that much.” she respond, joking. They had tried once, under orders of a certain person, and it had gone about as bad as it could have, the night fury not happy taking to the air without Blake. Ilia hadn’t been too cross with him, understanding the pain.  
“Actually, how much more trouble could we get in?” Blake asked, a mischievous smile on her face. Ilia smirked back, and the dragons looked at the rider at a whistle, untangling themselves. Swift Shadow knew what was going to happen, panting happily and barely standing still. Blake jumped on his back with ease, acting as though they had known each other forever.  
Iris was a little nervous, but trusted Ilia enough to let her mount, and followed the eager night fury, who couldn’t help his loud roar. As they darted off, taking to the sky, Adam peered out of the tent with a glare, but the two faunus ignored it.  
After reaching a high point in the sky, the two dragons slowed, breathing in the high altitude. Blake breathed in the air as well, completely stress free. Ilia melted at the sight, before urging Iris down, both of them blending in against the darkened sky with an airy laugh.  
She could see Blake and Swift Shadow look around for them, diving down and circling the laughter with confused eyes. Blake was grinning the entire time, and had Swift Shadow fire a blast in the air. Iris dodged it with ease, revealing herself with a grin.  
Swift Shadow dived down, tail flicking eagerly as Ilia encouraged Iris to chase, the two dragons cutting into the forest and weaving around trees, rocks, along springs, and eventually going back up, slowing once in the air. Ilia sighed deeply, laying against her dragons back.  
“So that’s what it’s like. Flying with Swift Shadow.” she breathed, a smile across her face. Iris cooed, staying as still as possible.  
“Yeah, this is it.” Blake agreed, running a hand along Swift Shadow’s wings. “Air’s cold, but its freeing. Makes me wonder what this will be like at home.”  
They stayed up there for a long time, chasing and being chased, cutting across the forest and generally having fun. Eventually they had to go back, back to reality, but Ilia didn’t mind so much, having her escape from the ground.

**Author's Note:**

> So yeah, who could have seen what dragon Ilia got coming?? Kinda an easy option, if I'm being honest, but the changewing works so well for her, and I couldn't resist. Names aren't my strong suit, but eh, I don't care.


End file.
